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Fishbowl5 With CNN’s Jay McMichael

Tonight is the Radio & TV Correspondents’ Dinner, Washington’s second most popular dinner party of the year. Some 1300 people are expected to attend. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is the featured House member. Entertainment is comedian Wayne Brady. Brady stepped in after the kerfuffle with FNC’s Greta Van Susteren caused Louis C.K. to back out. CNN’s Jay McMichael is the first cameraman to chair the dinner and we hear he plans to make it pop. We caught up with him to learn more.

How do you feel about Louis C.K. dropping out? Man, we’re happy Wayne Brady is going to be the performer tonight. He’s a triple threat — he sings, he dances and he does improv. The thing with Louis C.K. was unfortunate but we had to move on and I think we did pretty good job of that with Wayne Brady.

What did you think of FNC’s Greta Van Susteren’s influence in C.K. dropping out? I’m not going to comment on that.

Tom Brokaw recently criticized the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on what he dubbed the celebritizing of D.C. journalism. Did you agree with him? Tom Brokaw is entitled to his opinion. We have a different dinner. We’ve made our comment in our remarks tonight about Brokaw. I’d say tune in. I know I’m not giving you any fodder, but I don’t want to give away my stuff. C-SPAN is airing it live: 9 p.m.

Are you antsy for tonight? I don’t normally speak in front of a lot of people. I’m a behind the scenes guy. To be speaking in front of a room of people who make their living speaking on television can be a little nerve-wracking. I have not been practicing in the mirror. But I’m probably going to know the majority of people in the room and think they are wishing me well.

Hey, what’s the worst that could happen? I don’t know. I’m only hoping for the best. I just want people to come here and have a really fun time.